The invention concerns a harvester for potatoes, beets and other root crops wherein the harvester, in particular in the form of a bunker harvester, is comprises an intermediate or transfer bunker receiving harvested root crop after a cleaning phase, wherein from its receiving space the harvested root crop can be discharged by means of a conveying device that forms at least partially in the bunker a floor conveyer, comprises a lateral transfer module and can be oriented substantially transversely to the travel direction of the harvester.
For harvesting root crops in the form of potatoes, beets and other root crops, potato harvesters that are pulled by tractors or self-propelled harvesters have been known for a long time. In this connection, so-called transfer harvesters are used in which the harvested root crops that has been separated from adhering parts are transferred by a conveying device that is substantially oriented transversely to the travel direction of the harvester onto a collecting vehicle driving alongside the harvester. In addition to these transfer harvesters that are associated directly with the harvesting process, harvesters are also known that are referred to as bunker harvesters in which the harvested crops are collected in variably embodied receiving spaces of at least one bunker so that only after completion of a harvesting phase with filling of this bunker a later transfer process is required. Such harvesters with intermediate bunker are known in various embodiments on the market (company brochure “Produktprogramm”, No. L01.1002.DE/12/10/2500 of the company Grimme Landmaschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG, 49401 Damme, Germany).
In a bunker construction in accordance with DE 39 00 573 A1, the root crops is moved in the area of a sidewall that is acting as a glide plate to a conveyer at the bottom. From here, the generally known discharge of the root crop is realized by means of a discharge conveyor that forms the second sidewall and is a second unit of the complex discharge system.
The invention concerns the problem to configure a harvester for various root crops such that the bunker provided for collecting the harvested crop enables with reduced technical expenditure an optimal distribution of the harvested crop in the receiving space and such that the subsequent emptying of the receiving space can be performed substantially without damage to and without loss of harvested crop.